BOSTON: Human goal machine Erling Haaland will seek to get his World Cup account up and running immediately when Norway take on Iraq on Tuesday to end the country’s nearly three-decade absence from football’s elite tournament.
The giant, rampaging centre forward netted 16 times in Norway’s eight World Cup qualifying games and got an unmatched 27 goals for Manchester City last season.
Backed by an exciting roster of team-mates including playmaker Martin Odegaard and wingers Antonio Nusa and Oscar Bobb, Haaland wants to bolster his chances of picking up FIFA’s Golden Boot award against an Iraq side playing at the World Cup for the first time in 40 years.
The Lions of Mesopotamia in Boston representing Norway’s first match at a World Cup since 1998, when they lost to Italy in the round of 16.
That defeat was followed by a fall from grace for a team that had peaked as the world’s second best in FIFA’s rankings earlier in the 1990s.
Now, having scored the most goals of any European team during the World Cup qualifiers — Haaland’s partner in attack Alexander Sorloth bagged five and Thelo Aasgaard got four — Norway could challenge France for top spot in Group ‘I’.
Norway coach Stale Solbakken said both Martin Odegaard and Haaland were fit for the opener, with Haaland in particular looking sharp.
“He had his best training session yesterday, 11 against 11, and he had the goal of the year. It would have been the goal of the year in the World Cup if it had been broadcast, a volley from 20 meters — if it had hit (goalkeeper Egil) Selvik, he would have been killed, but luckily it went into the corner,” the coach laughed.
Standing in Norway’s path on Tuesday are an Iraq side whose route to Boston was via an exhausting 21-match qualifying campaign that — despite travel disruption caused by the US and Israeli war with neighbouring Iran — ended with victory over Bolivia in the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico.
Iraq coach Graham Arnold led his native Australia to the round of 16 at the last World Cup in Qatar where they were defeated by eventual champions Argentina.
Striker Aymen Hussein, who scored the goal that qualified Iraq for the finals, will be seeking to steal some of Haaland’s limelight.
Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2026
